Electric starter



April 7, 1925- C. P. BROCKWAY ELECTRI C STARTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR.

Cbr/ P Bmc/m/cy Filed Oct. 22, 1920 ATTORNEY April 7, 1925- C. P.BROCKWAY ELECTRIC STARTER Filed Oct. 22, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.Carl P Brochwy ATTORNEY.

- Patented Apr. 7, 1925 1,533,072 PATENT OFFICE.

CARL P. IBIROGKWAY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, ASSIGNOB T INDUSTRIAI RESEARCH COR-POBA'I'ION, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE ELECTRIC STARTER.

Application filed October 2%, 1920. Serial No. 418,805.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL P. BBOCKWAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Im rovem'ents in Electric Starters, ofwhich I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to improvements in the driving mechanism betweena starting motor and the engine to be started and has for its mainobject the provision of an in termediate wheel between the motor and engine wheels which moves along an arcuate path into and out of engagementwith its driven wheel but is not supported by the motor shaft, therebyavolding a great amount of lateral thrust on the motor shaft.

Another object is to provide arc'uate guides in a stationar support forsaid intermediate wheel to s 'de bodily along said guides.

Another object is to provide reduction gears between said intermediatewheel and the motor shaft.

Another object is to provide the motor pinion and its cooperating gearswith teeth of smaller pitch than that of the said intermediate gear.This permitsthe motor pin-.

ion to be made as small as maybe desired in order to get a high gearreduction between the motor and engine.

Another ob'ect is to provide a simple and effective fiexi le drivebetween the motor and the engine by making driving connection-of one ormore ears to its or their shaft by inserts of flexlble material such ascork, rubber, etc.

Other. objects and those relating to simplicity of construction andeconomies of manufacture will appear herein as I proceed with a detaileddescription of those articular embodiments of my invention WhlCh for thepurposes of illustration I have shown in the appended drawings, inwhich,

' Figure I is an end view of the motor showini its relation to aflywheel.

ilgure II is a side view of the motor and flyw eel.

Figure III is'a detail of a flexible drive connection. Fiflilre IV issection on line 4-4 of Figure 1 Fi re V is a view similar to Figure IIbut-s owin certain partsin section. I

Figure I shows a modified form of flexishaft 8.

ble drive connection between its shaft.

Figure VII is a view similar to Figure V but shows a modification of theflexible drive arrangement.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

' In Figures II to V, 1 represents a starting motor which is rigidlysupported relative to the engine casing and havin -small pinions 2 and 3fixed to the motor aft 4. The motor 1 has a bracket 5 rigidly mountedthereon, said bracket having two similar arcuate guide slots 6 and '7having the motor shaft 4 as a center of curvature. Slidably androtatably mounted in these guide slots 6 and 7 is a swinging shaft 8,which has mounted thereon two cars 9 and which are aligned and at altimes in mesh with pinions 2 and 3 respectively. Also mounted upon theshaft 8 and in between the two gears 9 and 10 is another gear which isaligned with a gear wheel 16 and capable of being shifted mto and out ofmesh therewith when shaft 8 swings through the arcuate' guides a pinionand 6 and 7. Gear wheel 16 is arranged to drive the engine shaft andpreferabl is formed on the engine flywheel itself, ut may be any othergear which can drive the engine shaft. Gear 15 preferably has a smallerpitch circle than the two gears 9 and 10. This enables the gear ratiobetween the motor and the engine to be greater thus al-, lowing themotor to run at a higher speed. It is also preferable to have the teethon gears 2, 3, 9, and 10 of smaller pitch than on gears 15 and 16,thu.spermittin a smaller diameter for the gears 2 and 3. of this is also toallow the "motor to run at a higher speed. If desired there may be onlyone pinion on the motor shaft and one gear on the swinging shaft 8 whichswin s into and out of mesh with gear 16. Sf course with thisarrangement all the ear teeth must be of the same pitch and t ere can beno additional gear reduction, as we have in the arrangements shown inFigures I, II, V, and

The operation of the invention will now be described. .With the motor 1at rest the shaft 8 will be held in the dotted position 8' shown inFigure I, by a small spring .17 which snaps over the projecting end ofthe Of course any other spring or gravity means may be employed to holdthe springy shaft 8'away from the gear 16. Now when the motor 1 isstarted in the direction shown by the arrow the sudden impulse upon thegears 9 and 10 will jerk the shaft 8 from,

behind the detent sprmg 17 and swing it 1 through the arcuate guides 6and 7 until gear 15 comes into proper mesh with gear 16. The end of theguides 6 and 7 act as a stop to the swingin movement, or if desired another suita le stop means may be provide such as a ieldable sprin whichwould prevent any s ock. Upon the stoppage of the swinging movement ofshaft 8, the gear 16 begins to turn. When'the engine starts the gear 16overruns the motor ears 2 and 3 and this causes the shaft 8 and itsthree gears to be swung upwardly through the guides 6 and 7 until gear15 disengages gear 16, The inertia of this swinging movement and of therotating gears is suflicient to cause the shaft 8 to snap behind thespring detent 17'. The motor switch is now-opened before the gears 9,10,

and 15 have lost their high speed of rota tion and they now come to astop and ready for the next starting operation.

It is desired that there be a flexible drive between .the motor andengine and therefore several such arrangements are shown in thedrawings. In Figures III and IV, the shaft 8 has a spider 20keyed'thereto. Rotatably mounted upon the shaft 8 is a pinion A whichmay be pinion 15 of Figures I or II or, if desired, the pinions 9 and10. Pinion A is rotatably connected to the spider 20 by means of inserts22 of some material such as cork, rubber, fiber, etc., which is placedbetween thelugs 21 and the corresponding recesses in the pinion A. Thisflexible drive between the motor and engine allows the engine to speedup as it passes over compression without immediately overrunning thegear 15 and causing the taking up of the back lash in the gear teeth.

Figure'V shows the middle gear 15 flexibly connected to the shaft 8 bymeans of the modified formof flexible connection shown inlligure VI. InFigure VI theshaft 8 is shown as having a square portion. 25 which lieswithin a larger square hole 26 in the car 15. The space between thesquare ortlon 25 and the pinion walls is filled with or sheetsofcompressible material ayers cork, rubber, or fiben. The compreferably.pressible material may be .held in place laterally by side plates whichmay be pinned to the gear 15 by means of pins 27 as shown.

- Figure VII shows a mod fication in which there is only one pinion 30onthe motor shaft, which constantly meshes with the gear 31. which iskeyed to the shaft 8. The two gears 32 and 133 are flexibly connected toshaft 8' by means of the form of flexible connection shown in FigureVI,.'and both of these gears 32 and 33 engage the teeth of the gearwheel 34 which preferably is the flywheel of the engine. Of course inthis modification the pitch of the gears 30 and '31 may be made smallerthan the pitch of the gears 32, 33, and 34.for the same reasons aspreviously mentioned in reference to Figures I, II, and V. Also the gear31 may have the flexible connection to the shaft 8 instead of the gears32 and 33. Orall three gears 31, 32, and 33 may have flexible connectionto shaft 8' if it is considered desirable. Likewise all three of thegears attached to shaft 8 in Figures I, II, and V may have flexibleconnection thereto if desired. The operation of all of the modificationsdescribed is substantially the same.

While I have illustrated and described in more or less detail certainembodiments of my invention I do not wish to be limited thereto asvarious other modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the artwithout departing from the scope of my invention as defined by thefollowing claims.

What I claim is: 1. In a starter drive for an engine havin a shaft and agear connected therewith, an a starting motor having a stub shaft drivenby the motor, a plurality of spaced gears on 7 said shaft, a secondauxiliary shaft associated with said starting motor having a pluralityof similarly spaced gears thereon an arc-shaped guide for said lastmentioned shaft concentric with said first mentioned stub shaft, and apinion carried by said second mentioned shaft intermediate said gearsthereof and adapted to mesh with the gear connected with the engine,saidspaced gears I stub shaft, a pinion carried by said second mentionedshaft. intermediate said gears thereof and adapted-to mesh with the gearconnected with the engine, said spaced gears on said two shaftsmeshing,. the mechanism arranged to cause said pinion to engage saidgear on the engineupon the starting of the motor by bodily movement ofsaid second mentioned shaft in said arc-shaped. guide and automaticallydisconnected. therefrom.

and means to temporarily retain said :auxil iary shaft in disconnectedposition.

3. In a starter drive for an engine having 'shaft concentnc with saidfirst mentioned a shaft and. a gear connected therewith, and a startingmotor having a stub shaft driven by the motor, a plurality of spacedgears on said shaft, a second auxiliary shaft associated with saidstarting motor having a plurality of similarily spaced gears thereon, anarc-shaped ide for said last mentioned shaft concentric with said firstmentioned stub, a third pinion carried by said second mentioned shaftintermediate said gears thereof and adapted to mesh with the gearconnected with the en he, said spaced'gears on said two shafts mes ing,a yielding tor ue transmitting means in said gear train, t e mechanismarranged to cause said pinion to engage said gear on the engine upon thestarting of the motor b bodily movement of therewith, and

a starting motor having a stub shaft driven by the motor, end bear ngsfor, said shaft, a

plurality of spaced gears on saidshaft, a second auxiliary shaftassociated with said starting motor having a plurality of similarlyspaced gearsthereorna pair of arcshaped for the ast mentioned shaftconcentric with. said first mentioned stub shaft, a inion carried bysaid second mentioned s aft intermediate said gears thereofand adaptedto mesh with the gear connected with the engine, said spaced gears onsaidtwo shafts meshing, a yielding tor ue' transmitting guides toprovide two end supports means in said gear train, t e'mechanismarranged to cause said pinion to engage said gear on the engine upon thestarting of the motor by bodily movement of said second mentionedshaftvin said arc-shaped guide and automatically disconnected therefrom,

and means to temporarily retain said auxiliaiiy shaft in Idisconnectedposition. g n testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

i v CARL P. BROGKWAY.

